'Twas a Fun Family Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas,
when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in the tent, Wearing new pajamas Great-Grandma just sent.

And Mama in her sweater

and Pa in his shirt,

Had fun with the kids, but ate too much dessert ;)

Around the new train set the kids made such a clatter,

It was as if the other gifts would not really matter.

But, into the packages the children tore like a flash.

And at the end of it all,

the littlest one would crashÜ

Watching the children's excitement and awe was a beautiful sight,

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Thanksgiving Trip to Utah

For Thanksgiving we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Bountiful, Utah and all had a fabulous time. We hadn't been back since moving to Arizona almost 2 years ago! The kids had a great time reconnecting with cousins, staying up late, missing school and eating junk for a week. Kirt and I also enjoyed the vacation and visiting with family and friends (Thanks for dinner, Payne's). Here is a sampling of our little adventure. . .

All the cousins in the backyard.

(except 2 still in Boston--we missed you)

Elaine, Abby and Madi had a fun time together. They enjoyed sleepovers at Grandma's, Barbie's and crafts. Madi was so sweet to just hang out with her younger cousins, who absolutely idolized her Ü

What Thanksgiving would be complete without a little football!

Taft or Orange(b/c that's what color he says his hair is) as he was nicknamed had a blast with his older cousins. I think it's b/c he can burp on demand--what teenage boy doesn't think that's cool ?!

Cameron and him became fast friends.

Brigham couldn't get enough of the roller coaster in the backyard!

It may be hard to see but his smile was always so huge going down this thing.

And Briggy enjoyed playing blocks with his cousin. Austen was so patient to stack them up again and again as Brigham kept knocking them down and giggling.

I had fun just chatting with my Sister-in-laws, shopping and seeing Twilight again Ü

(I stole this photo from Sarah's facebook page so that's why it's so puny.)

For the past 6 years Kirt's family has donated a tree to the Festival of Trees in memory of his younger sister Kellie. Throughout the year Kirt's mom collected all the fun bears and ornaments and such pictured here. So, on Monday Amy and I spent the day decorating this fun tree. It takes a bit of time as every ornament has to be wired on so they stay put when the tree is later transferred. (More info on this Festival is on the post below.) It was fun decorating and the kids enjoyed hanging out, too. . .

Dallin and Ethan thought these bears made better hats than decorations!

Taft was being sneaky tying this bear up in the sled Ü

We finished off our trip with a visit to see the lights at Temple Square.

Hard to capture in photo's , but so beutiful to see.

Overall, we had a great and busy time in Utah. We drove straight 11 1/2 hours home. The kids were so exhausted from vacation they slept all but about 3hours home--nice Ü.

Festival of Trees

As noted in the above post, Kirt's family donates a tree to this festival in memory of his sister Kellie. Our theme was A Beary Merry Christmas. There are various other themes from whimsical to nostalgic to whatever. Even the rival schools BYU and the U decorate a tree in their colors. It's fun to go around and see all the trees and added ambience. Below is a sampling of some of my favorites. . .

All of the trees and decor are donated by families and companies. After being decorated they are auctioned off and 100% of the proceeds go to Primary Children's Hospital. If you ever find yourself in Utah during this Festival I highly reccommend stopping in to see the 100's of trees and getting to know some of the stories behind them.